Illuminating Progress
The Manifesto đ 12 February 2025
The full moon brings light to what weâve been building, revealing the work weâve done and the steps still ahead. Itâs a moment of clarity, when we can see both the progress weâve made and the adjustments we need to make to stay true to our intentions.
When I look back on the cycle that began at the new moon, I see seeds of something meaningful starting to grow. The values I reflected on, empathy, compassion, literacy, and non-violence, are becoming more than abstract ideas. Theyâre taking root in the decisions I make and the creative work I pursue. But as the full moonâs light shines on those intentions, it also exposes the gaps, the places where I can do better, think deeper, or push farther.
One of the lessons Iâve learned during this phase is the importance of collaboration. Itâs easy to think of values as personal, something each of us carries and lives out individually. But the full moon reminds me that these ideas are at their strongest when theyâre shared. Roleplaying games are a perfect example of this: they arenât solitary experiences but collaborative ones, where players and gamemasters bring their own perspectives to the table and create something greater together.
That collaboration is what keeps me going. Itâs what makes the work matter, not just the stories we tell, but the connections we build through them. Seeing how others interpret and interact with what I create is its own kind of magic. Itâs a reminder that these values arenât just mine; they belong to everyone who chooses to engage with them.
The full moon is also a time to celebrate progress. Even if thereâs more to do, even if the work isnât perfect, itâs important to honor whatâs been accomplished. For me, that means acknowledging the steps Iâve taken to align my creative work with my values, even when itâs been difficult or messy. For you, it might mean taking a moment to recognize your own progress, whether in the stories youâre telling, the intentions youâve set, or the challenges youâve faced and overcome.
The light of the full moon asks us to look clearly, to appreciate what is and to imagine whatâs possible. Itâs not about reaching the finish line; itâs about pausing to reflect and re-center, so we can move forward with renewed purpose.
So letâs celebrate this moment together, not as an ending, but as a milestone. Letâs honor the work weâve done, the values we hold, and the connections we share. The light may fade after tonight, but the cycle continues, and thereâs always another chance to grow.
What will you carry forward? What will you leave behind? Under the full moon, everything is illuminated, if only for a moment. Letâs make it count.
I hope youâre doing well today.
Berin
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Latest Releases
Hereâs whatâs new in the Lightspress shop this week!
Dark Academia: Creating a Campaign Bible
Dark Academia: Creating a Campaign Bible is a system-neutral roleplaying book designed to help you build, use, and maintain a television-style series bible for fantasy settings. a series bible is a tool writers have relied on for decades to track characters, locations, and story details. Itâs a standard practice in television, where multiple writers need to stay consistent across episodes. This book adapts that concept for roleplaying, giving you a structured way to organize your setting, plot arcs, and themes.
Historia Daemonum
Historia Daemonum is built on the foundation of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a 17th-century grimoire that compiles earlier sources on the practice of ceremonial magic. This infamous text is best known for the Ars Goetia, a section detailing seventy-two spirits said to be summoned and bound by King Solomon. These entities, known as the Mighty Kings and Princes of Hell, have surfaced in folklore, Renaissance demonology, and modern occultism, each carrying a unique domain of knowledge and influence.
Modern Occult: Creating a Campaign Bible
Modern Occult: Creating a Campaign Bible is a roleplaying sourcebook designed to help you build and maintain a series bible for fantasy settings. a series bible is a tool used in television production to keep track of characters, locations, and storylines, ensuring consistency across episodes. Itâs nothing unusual, and despite the word âbible,â it has nothing to do with religion. Writers and producers use them to keep long-running shows from contradicting themselves. Roleplaying campaigns, especially those that span months or years, benefit from the same structure.
Crime & Mystery: Creating a Campaign Bible
Crime & Mystery: Creating a Campaign Bible is a system-neutral guide to planning, organizing, and running an investigative roleplaying campaign with the structure and clarity of a television series. A bible is a planning tool used by writers to maintain consistency, track essential details, and develop ongoing storylines. Television shows rely on them to ensure continuity across episodes, keeping characters, settings, and plots aligned. The same approach works beautifully for roleplaying, where long-form storytelling demands organization. This book lays out a method for building a bible that helps gamemasters maintain consistency, track character motivations, and shape long-term mysteries. Itâs not about imposing rigid structure but creating a flexible resource that makes preparation easier and play more engaging.
Defining Fantasy
Someone recently took it upon themselves to correct my use of fantasy, as if the word had a single, narrow meaning, one confined to swords, spells, and those same well-worn tropes. Either they thought Iâd misspoken, or they assumed Iâd misplaced a line from something else. But fantasy is older, stranger, and far more expansive than that, and I felt the need to put that into words.
Writing a Spy Novel in an Age of Geopolitical Chaos
Author Michael Idov sums it up perfectly:
âAmericans are openly living in a 1970s paranoid conspiracy thriller, where corruption goes all the way to the topâexcept that half of the US population seems to see this as a good thing, or at least a temporary cleansing necessity. You try writing grounded spy fiction in a reality where âthe president is in on itâ is not even a twist.â
The full article is behind a paywall (not sponsored), but honestly, you donât need to read it. The title and that quote alone capture at least part of the struggle Iâm having with finishing DoubleZero. When reality feels like the setup for a political thriller, writing one gets a little complicated. It destroys the fantasy, to âmisuseâ the term per the previous item.
Action Plan Update
Thereâs been some confusion about what I mean when I talk about first quarter and second quarter in the release and production schedule, so letâs clear that up.
In the broader business sense, the year is divided into four quarters:
First quarter (Q1): JanuaryâMarch
Second quarter (Q2): AprilâJune
Third quarter (Q3): JulyâSeptember
Fourth quarter (Q4): OctoberâDecember
So if I say something is planned for second quarter, that means itâs on the schedule for release or serious production work sometime between April and June.
But since weâre also working by the lunar cycle, thereâs an extra rhythm at play. Each quarter of the year contains about three full lunar cycles, which means projects move through phases just like the moon, new beginnings, growth, refinement, and completion. Some things are in the new moon stage (still forming, not ready to share), while others are hitting their full moon moment (nearly ready for release).
Put simply: the production schedule is a process. Some things will shift, some will need extra time, and some will be released exactly when theyâre meant to be. Hope that clears it up.
Creating Campaign Bibles
Iâm trying to intersperse these between longer projects, to maintain some sort of flow for releases.
Crime & Mystery: Creating a Campaign Bible
Dark Academia: Creating a Campaign Bible
Espionage: Creating a Campaign Bible
Folk Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible
Magical Realism: Creating a Campaign Bible
Modern Horror: Creating a Campaign Bible
Modern Occult: Creating a Campaign Bible
Modern Romance: Creating a Campaign Bible
Pirates: Creating a Campaign Bible
Space Opera: Creating a Campaign Bible
Fantasy Academia Open Loops
Before diving into something new, I want to start closing some loops. These are the Fantasy Academia books that need to be wrapped up before I shift focus to Dark Academia. Finishing one cycle before beginning the next, it just feels right.
Fantasy Academia Grimoire I
Fantasy Academia Grimoire II
Fantasy Academia Understanding the Genre
Fantasy Academia Faction Compendium
Fantasy Academia World Creation Guide
Modern Occult Open Loops
Before shifting into other genres, I need to finish what I started here. These are the occult titles that need to be completed or revised first, clearing the path before stepping into the next phase.
Goetia Grimoire Historia Daemonum (retitled to fit with the series begun with Historia Transfiguri and Historia Vampiri)
Personae Mythologia Historia Mythologia (retitled to fit with the series begun with Historia Transfiguri and Historia Vampiri)
Personae Historia Historia Personae (retitled to fit with the series begun with Historia Transfiguri and Historia Vampiri)
Dionysian Fantasy Sourcebook
Occult Bestiary
Occult Equipment Manual
Occult Faction Compendium
Roleplaying Games
Before turning my attention to revisions or diving into something new, these are the full, one-book games I want to finish and release. One step at a time, one project at a time, getting these out into the world comes first.
DoubleZero
Erich Maria Remarqueâs All Quiet on the Western Front Roleplaying Game
William Faulknerâs The Sound and the Fury Roleplaying Game
Ernest Hamingwayâs A Farewell to Arms Roleplaying Game
Kangaroo: A Punk Fairytale Roleplaying Game
Lightspress Handbook 1.3
This will be released after, or possibly alongside, DoubleZero. The updates will be minor: a few system refinements, some clarifications to the company philosophy (nothing drastic, just sharpening the focus), and answers to more frequently asked questions. Small adjustments, but ones that should make a difference.
Second Quarter
The following books didnât make the cut for this quarter, which means I wonât be getting to them until at least next quarter, April through June. Priorities shift, but for now, these are on hold.
The Simple Approach
These books will get a once-over before being made available for print, nothing drastic, just a final check to make sure theyâre ready to go.
Character Death
Developing Traits
Journaling the Game
Outcomes & Story
Running the Game
Story Adaptation
Using Themes
The following new books, designed to work with both The Simple Approach and as system-agnostic resources, are on the list for the second quarter of 2025. Looking ahead to new horizons.
Adventure Creation: Conflict & Consequence
Adventure Creation: Growth & Change
Adventure Creation: Relationships & Emotions
Adventure Creation: Strategy & Survival
Adversary Creation
Character Creation
Equipment Creation
Faction Creation
World Creation
Opera Games & DZ Settings
These books need to be revised, expanded, and brought up to code with The Simple Approach. Each will be a stand-alone, one-book game, though that doesnât rule out future sourcebooks if they make sense down the line.
Crossbones Opera (alternate history piracy)
Hardboiled Follies (amateur detectives)
Mansions & Misfits (weird low-level supers found-family)
Moonlight Opera (modern romance)
Spectres of Mars (near-future science fiction detectives)
Starlight Opera (space opera)
Streetlight Opera (noir crime)
Dark Academia
These books either need a full revision, significant expansion, or to be built from the ground up. Some are refinements, some are overhauls, and some are entirely new, but all are on the list.
Dark Academia: Adventure Workbook
Dark Academia: Characters: Narrative Handbook
Dark Academia: Equipment Manual
Dark Academia: Faction Compendium
Dark Academia: Understanding the Genre
Dark Academia: World Creation Guide
Espionage
These books either need a full revision, significant expansion, or to be built from the ground up. Some are refinements, some are overhauls, and some are entirely new, but all are on the list.
Espionage: Adventure Workbook
Espionage: Characters: Narrative Handbook
Espionage: Equipment Manual
Espionage: Faction Compendium
Espionage: Understanding the Genre
Espionage: World Creation Guide
Cozy Fantasy
These books either need a full revision, significant expansion, or to be built from the ground up. Some are refinements, some are overhauls, and some are entirely new, but all are on the list.
Cozy Fantasy: Adventure Workbook
Cozy Fantasy Characters: Narrative Handbook
Cozy Fantasy: Equipment Manual
Cozy Fantasy: Faction Compendium
Cozy Fantasy: Understanding the Genre
Cozy Fantasy: World Creation Guide
Folk Horror
Yeah, I know, I opened this can of worms and then kicked it down the road. But itâs time to get to it. The following need to be created from whole cloth, built from the ground up. No shortcuts, no half-measures, just the work ahead.
Folk Horror: Adventure Workbook
Folk Horror Characters: Narrative Handbook
Folk Horror: Equipment Manual
Folk Horror: Faction Compendium
Folk Horror: World Creation Guide
Other Genres
Check back in the third quarter, theyâll get their moment. Iâll circle back to heroic/traditional fantasy (gotta keep the lights on), but Iâm especially drawn to exploring crime, mystery, and magical realism. Those are likely next on the list.
Character Handbooks
All Foragers Guild Guides and DoubleZero profession books are being revised as system-agnostic resources under The Simple Approach. Each will include journaling and solo play rules, making them more flexible and accessible across different styles of play.
Glossaries
Iâm planning to add the genre-based glossaries from various books to the website for easy reference. None will go live until theyâre all done, better to launch them all at once than spend weeks answering, âWhereâs the glossary for X, and when will it be available?â over and over.
Bibliographies
Iâm also planning to add the genre-based bibliographies from various books to the website for easy reference, this time with links to purchase them. Another revenue stream, no matter how small, certainly wonât hurt. Like the glossaries, none will go live until theyâre all finished. That way, I can avoid answering âWhereâs the bibliography for X, and when will it be available?â a dozen times.
Yes, Thereâs More
But isnât this enough for now?
Anything that hasnât been updated to be compatible with The Simple Approach will get there eventually.
I want to keep that balanced with new releases.
Anything with a sufficient page count will eventually be available in print.
Itâs all in motion, one step at a time.
Thank You
Thank you for standing with us as we push forward. With each step, your support fuels our efforts, helping us overcome challenges and stay on course. Together, weâre building something unique, bringing ideas to life with resilience and determination. We appreciate every bit of your support.
This weekâs discount code is LITERACY. Use it to enjoy 20% off your orders at the Lightspress shop until the next issue of the newsletter comes out.
Our next issue will be released on the day of the next third quarter moon. See you then, and as always, I hope youâre doing well today.
The Manifesto is the official source for news on upcoming releases, articles and opinions, and assorted ramblings on our games and our philosophy of roleplaying. New issues are released four times a month, on the new moon, first quarter moon, full moon, and last quarter moon, with special quarterly issues for each equinox and solstice. Stay connected and subscribe to The Manifesto now!
Lightspress promotes a simple approach to roleplaying, focusing on the utility and value of the content rather than flashy production. We strategically employ visual elements to amplify the message conveyed by the text, allowing us to create powerful and affordable toolkits. Remember, the true essence of the roleplaying experience lies not within the pages of a book, but in the creativity and collaboration fostered around your tabletop.
